Sebastian Vettel has secured pole position for the Singapore GP.
The stars seemed aligned for Vettel even before the qualifying session had gotten underway. Although the German secured the coveted pole position the fight was decidedly closer than expected.
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg got to within a tenth of snatching the first slot on the grid & Lotus’ Romain Grosjean was a further three tenths back in third. Significantly closer than the second gap Vettel enjoyed in the third free practice session.
The biggest casualty of the session was Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn failed to advance to the top ten shoot-out and will start the race in 13th position. It was reported that Raikkonen was suffering from back pain sustained as a result of his seat not being fastened correctly in the cockpit of his Lotus.
The stand-out driver of qualifying was Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez. The Mexican put in a mega lap to advance to the top ten and in the process out-qualified his highly rated teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
Mark Webber set a time only quick enough for fourth and Lewis Hamilton won’t be too pleased down in fifth and three tenths off his teammate.
Perhaps there was some truth in Felipe Massa’s statement that he would be racing for himself from this point onward. The Brazilian out-qualified teammate Fernando Alonso albeit by just about a tenth of a second. The two Ferrari drivers will start sixth and seventh respectively. Jenson Button, Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Gutierrez round out the top ten.
Full qualifying time sheet below.
Due to technical difficulties with a certain ISP, this report was compiled using an instant messenger, an iPhone 5, some duct tape and a Canadian squirrel.
